Song of Pelinal I

An Examination of 'The Song of Pelinal'

Pelinal fighting Umaril the Unfeathered

Pelinal is a fairly well known part of history, and possibly the most well known part of the Alessian Slave Rebellion. His story is, in a word, cool as hell. So I thought a good way to start examining that character is to have a look at the most authoritative in-game record of Pelinal, The Song of Pelinal.

Here, in its entirety, is the first volume of The Song of Pelinal, complete with editor's note:

"[Editor's Note: Volumes 1-6 are taken from the so-called Reman Manuscript located in the Imperial Library. It is a transcription of older fragments collected by an unknown scholar of the early Second Era. Beyond this, little is known of the original sources of these fragments, some of which appear to be from the same period (perhaps even from the same manuscript). But, as no scholarly consensus yet exists on dating these six fragments, no opinions will be offered here.]


That he took the name "Pelinal" was passing strange, no matter his later sobriquets, which were many. That was an Elvish name, and Pelinal was a scourge on that race, and not much given to irony. Pelinal was much too grim for that; even in youth he wore white hair, and trouble followed him. Perhaps his enemies named Pelinal of their own in their tongue, but that is doubtful, for it means "glorious knight", and he was neither to them. Certainly, many others added to that name during his days in Tamriel: he was Pelinal the Whitestrake because of his left hand, made of a killing light; he was Pelinal the Bloody, for he [drank] it in victory; he was Pelinal Insurgent, because he gave the crusades a face; he was Pelinal In Triumph, as the words eventually became synonymous, and men-at-arms gave thanks to the Eight when they saw his banner coming through war; he was Pelinal the Blamer, for he was quick to admonish those allies of his that favored tactics that ran counter to his, that is, sword-theory; and he was Pelinal the Third, though whether this was because some said he was a god guiser, who had incarnated twice before already, or that, simpler, he was the third vision given to Perrif, anon Alessia, in her prayers of liberation before he walked among the quarters of rebellion, is unknown."

Pelinal, or perhaps someone wearing his armour

Now, let's break this down.

"That he took the name "Pelinal" was passing strange, no matter his later sobriquets, which were many. That was an Elvish name.."
"...Perhaps his enemies named Pelinal of their own in their tongue, but that is doubtful, for it means "glorious knight", and he was neither to them..."

Pelinal is a derivation of Pelin-El (As we will hear in volume 2). This naming convention suggests that Pelinal has intrinsic ties to the mer of mundus. This does not, however, mean that he has to like it. Or them. As evidenced by:

"That was an Elvish name, and Pelinal was a scourge on that race, and not much given to irony."

This tells us both that Pelinal really does not like the elves (and believe me, we will be hearing rather a lot about Pelinal's views on our pointy eared friends) and also that he is a very serious fellow.

"Pelinal was much too grim for that; even in youth he wore white hair, and trouble followed him."

From this we can infer that the natural colour of Pelinal's hair is white. This again makes mention of the inherently serious nature of the man. The trouble also points to the arrogance and aggressively confrontational character of Pelinal that will continue to colour this narrative and inform the story of his life. Pelinal does not play well with others in general. We then go on to learn much about the role Pelinal played through the following listing of his titles:

"Certainly, many others added to that name during his days in Tamriel: he was Pelinal the Whitestrake because of his left hand, made of a killing light;"

At this point it bears mentioning that Pelinal is almost certainly a time travelling robot sent from the future.* Well, probably not a robot in the sense that if you opened him up you'd see whirring cogs, but robot in the sense of an artificial life. The left hand of killing light we are quite sure refers not to a usage of magic, but to some manner of laser based weaponry integrated into his being. 

"he was Pelinal the Bloody, for he [drank] it in victory;"

Now here's a happy chappy!

Pretty straightforward, Pelinal drank the blood of his slaughtered foes. Whether this is for some manner of sustenance or simply for sheer intimidation is unknown. 

"he was Pelinal Insurgent, because he gave the crusades a face;"

It is possible that, although Pelinal is undoubtedly a central figure to the Alessian Slave Rebellion, the details of his story and the deeds of other heroes may have become blurred, with some achievements of other heroes being attributed to an already powerful figure, both in might and in myth. This also holds with a recurring theme of certain things being "eaten" conceptually by other things, and being absorbed into the eater. 

"he was Pelinal In Triumph, as the words eventually became synonymous, and men-at-arms gave thanks to the Eight when they saw his banner coming through war;"

Pelinal was very good at fighting, and very good at tactics too.

"he was Pelinal the Blamer, for he was quick to admonish those allies of his that favored tactics that ran counter to his, that is, sword-theory;"

Having said that, the tactics Pelinal favoured weren't big on finicky stuff like magic. Pelinal liked to wade in and smash things. Direct confrontation, that's the ticket!

"and he was Pelinal the Third, though whether this was because some said he was a god guiser, who had incarnated twice before already, or that, simpler, he was the third vision given to Perrif, anon Alessia, in her prayers of liberation before he walked among the quarters of rebellion, is unknown."

The god guiser part refers to Pelinal being a Shezarrine, or reincarnation of Shor/Lorkhan. As to the third vision of Perrif (it is noteworthy that Alessia is a corruption of "Al-Esh" or High Highness, and was thus originally a title rather than a name) Alessia is known to have prayed to the Aedra, and specifically (probably) Akatosh for salvation from the slavery of men in Cyrodiil. As Akatosh is the dragon god of time, it is not impossible that he gave her a glimpse into the future where exactly the hero her cause needed might be found. 

A moody picture of a Silt-Strider, because I very much enjoy moody pictures of Silt-Striders.

So there we have it, an examination of the first part of The Song of Pelinal! You can see that this simply must be broken down into parts, and even then I worry this post may be a little too wordy. 

Footnotes:

* Or, at least, so Michael Kirkbride tells us, and as he wrote The Song of Pelinal, we can be pretty certain he'd know. 

Have any questions? Think there's something I missed? Have an amusing anecdote about forcing the Nights of the Nine to dance to 'What is Love'? Let me know in the comments below!

An Empty Throne

An Empty Throne

The whalebone bridge guarded by Tsun that leads to the Hall of Valour

A question that cannot have escaped anyone reaching the penultimate stage of Skyrim's main quest is; where is Shor? Journeying to Sovngarde*, the Nordic and Atmoran warrior's afterlife, players will undoubtedly notice the rather large empty throne sitting inside the Hall of Valour**. There is one fairly realistic reason as to this, and several theories have been put forth as to an in-universe explanation. 

Dagoth Ur looks on in disbelief

We are fairly sure that the practical reason Shor is not present is that during the design process, objections were raised within the dev team that a god seated upon a throne looks awfully similar to real world religious iconography, and for reasons of sensitivity, the character was omitted altogether, with the excuse that "The glory of Shor would burn the eyes of the living" (or words to that effect), which would be nigh unprecedented, as in previous games players have had the opportunity to quite happily behold various forms of gods and chatted quite comfortably with manifestations of several of the Nine Divines.

This Alduin menaces with spikes of rock. All craftsnordship is of the highest quality

There are three prevalent theories that have been put forward by way of explanation for the empty throne:
1. Shor is dead, and thus cannot be present.
2. Shor and the Dragonborn are two parts of the same entity.

3. Shor just nipped off to the shops for a moment.

Pictured: Lorkhan not looking so hot

Shor is dead:

This theory hinges on three things. One, that Shor is another name for Lorkhan, two, that Lorkhan was killed by the other gods, and three, that dead things no longer exist/have agency. Now, the story of Lorkhan is the topic of another post, quite possibly several other posts, but suffice to say, Shor is at the very least an aspect of Lorkhan, and Lorkhan has been made just about as dead as he can be made. This theory runs into a couple of problems. Firstly, that as Sovngarde is an afterlife, it would make good and proper sense for a dead god to be meandering about the place. What is death to a god, after all, but sitting in a different room? 

Secondly, every bit of evidence we have points to Shor being very much a contemporary presence. Dead heroes in the Hall of Valour tell us that Shor is usually about, and we have documented evidence of Shor interacting with a dead warrior. From "Sovngarde: A Reexamination" - Jastal, Bereditte: 

"...correspondence between one Felga Four-Fingers, a medium of some note, and the ghost of a Nord warrior named Rolf the Large... ...For death was the entrance to Sovngarde. So he was told by Shor himself, who greeted Rolf the Large as a brother, and personally handed him a leg of roast mutton and the hand of a comely wench." 
Sadly, I cannot find much merit in this theory.

A depiction of Shor, note the gaping wound where his heart has been removed

Shor and the Dragonborn are two parts of the same entity:
This theory is undeniably the most compelling of the three. This relies on the concept of the Dragonborn being a Shezarrine. This is a rather in-depth concept and is assuredly a topic for another time, but in a nutshell, a Shezarrine is a person who fills a certain role, and eventually becomes a part of Lorkhan. As Shor is/is an aspect of Lorkhan, entering Sovngarde whilst Shor is present would be like walking into a room only to discover that you are already inside sitting down and happily munching on a scone. Simply put, you cannot see Shor in the Hall of Valour, because in a way, you are Shor. Now, the Dragonborn being a Shezarrine is a matter of some debate, so it cannot be said with absolute certainty that this is the case, but this is probably the most fleshed out and likely theory we have.

Lorkhan (almost) whole

Shor just isn't around:
This theory is fairly self explanatory. Whether for the official explanation given or other reasons, Shor just isn't around at the moment. Maybe he had an errand to run? Whilst this theory doesn't really have any flaws, it can't be said to have much to commend it either.

Which theory do you think is most likely? Do you have a theory of your own or one I've neglected to mention? Did you see a Mudcrab the other day? Let me know in the comments below!

Footnotes:

*The afterlife for heroic Nords, undeniably based upon the Norse afterlife of Valhalla

**Hall of Valour is, intentionally or no, a play on Valhöll, the original spelling of Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain.